As late as the 1980s, U.S. 280 was known as the Florida Short Route and Alabama 119 was a rural route for fishermen going to Lake Purdy. In its earliest days it had been a stagecoach route from Ashville to Montevallo.

And after the sun went down, it was exceedingly dark. On U.S.280, beyond the Pet Motel was forest with an occasional homesite.

The 280 corridor grew slowly and in 1990 Joe Lee Griffin, a Birmingham businessman known for his charitable giving, built a public golf course on gently sloping land at the foot of Oak Mountain and immediately west of U.S. 280.

About the same time John Reamer bought land on three sides of the golf-course site and began building a subdivision.

Both the golf course, with accompanying driving range, and the new subdivision were called Eagle Point, although there were no ownership or covenant ties between the two.

Mr. Griffin built his golf course because he saw it a nice addition to other businesses that he owned, and he loved to play golf. He played the course often.

When Mr. Griffin passed away the golf course and driving range were left to his three daughters in a trust. They operated the course until it suffered three consecutive not-so-profitable years. At that point the sisters decided to sell the approximately 144 acres.

The question was, what should it become.

Prior to the golf course and driving range being built, part of the property was zoned for single-family homes and another part was zoned for apartments.

Several developers were asked to bid on the property. One of those, Connor Farmer, was the only to submit an offer “that was willing to give up the existing apartment zoning.”

“I am a local developer that attends church in the area, has kids in the same school system, and knew that the apartments would be very unpopular,” Farmer explained.

Land for higher-density apartments would have been more profitably developed, but with his desire to create a residential neighborhood on the golf course land, Farmer asked the Shelby County Planning Commission to rezone the entire tract for homes, but allowing lots of different sizes. “I came up with the plan to have smaller 60-foot lots in an area that adjoined smaller lots and graduate up in size to 100-foot lots over the project,” he explained. “The vision was to try and use the existing lakes to create parks and walking trails for the residents…renovate one of the three existing buildings and convert it to a clubhouse and pool for the Griffin Park residents.”

Farmer said he chose Griffin Park for the development to honor the memory of Joe Lee Griffin as a kind-hearted and charitable individual.

Farmer also selected Newcastle Homes and Harris Doyle Homes to build homes in the new subdivision.  Farmer said he chose those two builders because he had “done business with (them) for years” and that they “have high-character owners and we knew they would build quality homes that would increase values throughout all of Eagle Point.”

The new subdivision’s full title is Griffin Park at Eagle Point.

Once the new zoning was secured, the land was reshaped for a subdivision.

It began opening in sectors in the second half of the 2010s. The homes in the first sectors that were opened proved quite popular and land preparation for subsequent sectors was well underway during 2019.

When completed the subdivision will consist of just over 300 homes in a variety of designs.